The person who wrote that letter must be, well I guess scared. A person that scared could never even hold a rational conversation about a subject. Everything he complained about wolves doing, are things humans do on a regular bases. Not all humans, but enough. I was amazed, It just goes to show opinions very wildly.

Editor: In a recent letter to the editor, Chipper Mosser of Merrill voiced the opinion of a sadly misinformed, very vocal minority who refuse to believe that sound wolf management is based on good wildlife management practices and common sense. Mosser stated that our forefathers were wise to eliminate most wolves. Unfortunately, this wisdom was based upon the "Little Red Riding Hood" principle - a belief that all wolves are bad and therefore must be eliminated.

The federal government did not force the reintroduction and protection of wolves on the public. This effort took place only after extensive opportunities for public comment; most people were in favor of protecting wolves. Contrary to the ranting of the antiwolf fringe, wolves are very adaptable survivors and were beginning to naturally repopulate most areas in which reintroduction is taking place. The contention that some wild areas have been closed to hunters and all-terrain-vehicle traffic in order to protect wolves is wrong. Creation of wilderness areas is due to overall forest management plans and has little, if anything, to do with wolf management activities. The most ludicrous statement made by Mosser is that wolves are wanton killers of deer. Considering the natural predator-prey relationship and the environmental and financial cost of an excessive deer herd in Wisconsin, wolves are doing us all a favor by helping to control these hoofed vermin. It is unfortunate that some people insist upon trying to raise cattle and run hunting dogs in areas that wolves occupy. Remember, in the few cases of cattle or dogs lost to wolves, compensation for those losses is available. Richard Brown, Merrill

If all the atheists left the United States it would lose 93% of the National Academy of Sciences but less than 1% of the prison population.

There has never been a confirmed case of a wolf attacking a human in the wild in the U.S.. Vehicles kill 45,000 a year and guns 12,000 a year in the us and no body gives a ****. They worry about the one killed by a cougar per year, the two killed by bear, the 12 by snake bite (mostly children in their own yard), the 17 by lightening (mostly golfers), and the one that blows themself up by smoking while gassing up their car.

Why blame a cougar for the one human kill per year. You would not blame a house cat for killing a mouse, would you? Would you kill off the house cats so the mouse could brag about how it was worth so much more than the cats and the rest of creation?

If all the atheists left the United States it would lose 93% of the National Academy of Sciences but less than 1% of the prison population.

I hear this one time a dog attacked a kid. Because of this I strongly advocate the immediate killing of all dogs!

Ya know, I've heard of areas where squirrel biting is a problem so we should kill all of those too.

I hate to break it too people but wild animals are just that, wild. They are a part of nature (so are we) and there is no reason we should change "eliminate" all of a creature or cage them just so we are safe.

Lets see, Take an animal out of its natural setting, put it in a PRISON, then wonder why it gets a little mentally unstable. HMMMMM, If you have as much experience with prisons and the people put in them as you say then you know that some adapt and some go CRAZY. The first time my son brought a snake in and wanted to keep it (I like snakes also) I asked him what the snake had done wrong. He said nothing. I then saked why he would want to lock it up. He said he wasn't going to lock it up. I then asked him if the horse pasture 20 acres large was where you found the snake doesn't a little glass box 1' x 2' seem an awful lot like a jail? He took the snake back to where he found it and had fun , played a little while then came back empty handed but very proud of himself for not making the snake suffer in jail. Also, I would not put my child in a situation where he would be considered a tasty treat to an predator (human or animal). How many chilkdern are killed by human pedators a year? How do those numbers stack up against the numbers from wild animals ? I find it amusing almost to the point of sadness that it is almost always someone or something elses fault when something bad happens. What ever happened to accepting responsability for your own actions? I would not go jogging in mountian lion country, muchless take my child and put them out as bait. I guess I was raised different then most, Thankfully.

>this happened in a suburban park, by the way, not where you'd expect to see cougars<

Cougars “will happen” where there is food. The problem is most people think they are the supreme creatures in the universe and therefore should be untouchable in places “they” think they have a right to be. The human being is the only creature on earth that fails to realize they are just another member of the food chain as far as wild annuals are concerned.

As for deaths from wolves, cougars, bears and other wild animals, including those highly dangerous biting squirrels, probably all toll they do not add up to equal deaths caused by domestic animals. I have not researched this but would be surprised to find out if this is not the case.

Wolves, bear, snakebites and other such attacks by wild animals make for good Hollywood scripts and novels, but are just not the norm.

OK, it's an old joke but... "There's a Christian who's hiking in the woods one day when he comes upon an angry bear. The bear stood up on its hind legs and growled ferociously, clearly preparing to charge. In panic, the Christian started to run, but the bear followed close on his heels. Finally the hiker came to a cliff. He dropped to his knees and asked God to please make this bear a good Christian bear. To the hiker's amazement, the bear suddenly stopped growling, fell to his knees and folded his paws together in prayer! "Thank you, Lord!" exclaimed the Christian. "Thank you, Lord!" exclaimed the bear, "for this meal I'm about to receive!"

When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor.

To the Editor: This letter is in response to the letter to the editor called "Wolves wanton killers" written by a misinformed anti-wolf zealot (July 29).

I am not going to respond to comments in the article regarding wolves not climbing trees, causing lyme's disease, etc. Most people who read the article realized how ridiculous these statements are.

As far as being "wanton killers," I would suggest that it wasn't the wolf who slaughtered the buffalo, the passenger pigeon, elk, etc., but rather our ancestors whom the writer of the article called "wise" to eliminate the wolf. Not one species was driven t extinction by the wolf, however many were by human beings. Perhaps it is we that are the wanton killers.

As to the wolves affecting the deer populations, there have been an average of 1.6 million deer in the state of Wisconsin over the last three years, the highest population ever in the history of the state. Homeowners, foresters, farmers, insurance companies will all tell you we have too many deer!

As far as the deer killed by wolves, they have consumed approximately 15,000 deer - hunters have taken 1,440,000 - road kills totaled over 135,000. I will be glad to support these figures taken for the last three years. This doesn't include over 215,000 deer not followed up on only to die later. As you can see the amount of deer killed by wolves is practically insignificant.

We must get over this Mayflower mentality and stop using bar stool biology. As an apex predator the wolf has a necessary and rightful place in our ecosystem, and most people realize that as Aldo Leopold said - "Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of the wolf."

Am I the only one offended by the tone of Mr. Poulton’s letter? I’m sorry, but this comes off as condescending and arrogant to me. This guy is a public servant.

He starts out with the comment, “Most people who read the article realized how ridiculous these statements are.”

His statement will do nothing but antagonizes his critics and close their minds to hearing what is probably accurate and factual data that he later presents.

He says, “We must get over this Mayflower mentality and stop using bar stool biology”, and quotes Aldo Leopold, "Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of the wolf."

Perhaps he and his colleagues need to stop listening to the mountains and state listening to people sans the chip on their shoulders. Maybe then they would be better able to educate people with facts and figures and details of the overall program without the preaching as if they are coming from a loftier, know-it-all place.

I find nothing unbelievable about the facts in his letter although I have not researched the data. I also am in full support of efforts of reintroducing the wolf as well as other species back into the ecosystem, when possible. But there have miserable and costly failures at such efforts, the California condor being one of those.

The problem with most animal rights radicals is thy have no ability to prioritize and make objective decisions as to what is a worthwhile effort and which ones are not. Three toed toads and snail darters are often put on the same level of importance as wolves, white tigers, grizzly bears and other nobler creatures. Some of these radicals would be touting the protection of the mosquito if they thought for one second it was under threat.

I also take issue with his ridiculous statement, “As an apex predator the wolf has a necessary and rightful place in our ecosystem”. There has been millions of species come and go from the plant over the eons of evolution. Only God (or whatever other supreme being you believe in) has the right and the ability to determine which ones have “a rightful place in or ecosystem”. And as for the wolf being necessary, I don’t think so. Just like any one of the other species that has disappeared, the ultimate demise of the wolf, if that ends up being its fate, will not bring about the end of the world. (i.e. the California Condor).

We may not have the right or the ability to determine which species will or will not ultimately survive, but we do have the right and the ability to chose which ones we are willing to try to save and assign scarce resources to. Those people charged with carrying out these programs would be much better off clearing their head of hollowing wolves and start listening to the howling tax payer. They are the most vicious species on the planet.

I'm waiting for the return of the Mastodons. Anyone have a chest freezer or two to sell?

When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor.